The Palace Theatre in Greensburg is a popular performing arts space that is known for its history as much as its world-class performers that take the stage each week.
While I am still looking for the perfect show to take in a performance at the theater, I was able to get in on a behind-the-scenes tour to check out more of the history of this iconic spot!
Moraine State Park is one of our favorite parks in the area as it is quite large, accessible in about 45 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, and offers a wealth of things to do when visiting both on and off the water.
On a recent visit, I got to try out something that I've been eyeing for quite some time- stand up paddleboarding with SurfSUP Adventures. I've got to say, this one was a ton of fun!
When it comes to Frank Lloyd Wright in the Laurel Highlands, you likely know of Fallingwater. You've probably also heard of Kentuck Knob just a few miles away. But did you know that there is a third site containing the acclaimed architect's work?
This location is Polymath Park- home to two Frank Lloyd Wright houses and two more built by his student, Peter Berndtson.
But the Wright houses here are rather unique- the two houses were completely relocated to the park in the last few decades!
Barking Slopes Conservation Area is a rather small park located near Oakmont and New Kensington, PA- about 40 minutes east of Pittsburgh.
The park is roughly 150 acres and is managed by the Allegheny Land Trust as a conservation and biological diversity area due to its unique geological features.
For the casual hiker, this one is not much different than other conservation areas in the region. But the park offers a nice hike out in nature with potential wildlife spottings all the same.
If you've spent some time walking around downtown Pittsburgh, odds are good you've seen the old Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail. This historical building is one of the most stunning in the city and even includes its own Bridge of Sighs walkway that connected the two buildings.
Today the jail has been decommissioned and converted into a Common Pleas court, yet many artifacts from the era exist and are available on display in the Old Allegheny County Jail Museum.
But if you want to check this one out you'll have to plan accordingly- it is only open from 11:30am to 1pm on Mondays, February to October!
If there is any neighborhood in Pittsburgh that has changed the most in the last few years, it would be East Liberty.
The neighborhood is the poster child for gentrification and is now home to luxury lofts, numerous restaurants, and easy access to the growing tech hub in Bakery Square in nearby Larimer (although tenants there like to call themselves part of East Liberty partly due to association-by-gentrification).
While we could spend a long time discussing the gentrification of neighborhoods like these (we encourage it in the comments!), in our neighborhood guide series we want to take a look at what East Liberty is now and highlight the history and some of the spots we visit when exploring the neighborhood- namely the restaurants and a few limited attractions.
PNC Park is home to the Pittsburgh Pirates and is also considered to be one of the most beautiful ballparks in the country.
While a great place to be during a game, the park is also home to a behind the scenes tour that goes to a number of interesting spots inside the stadium that you normally won't see in a regular game, including:
Taking this tour was high on my Pittsburgh bucket list, but I always had trouble scheduling a visit to coincide with a date I could get inside the Clubhouse. Now that I finally made that happen, it is time to share a few highlights from the tour!
Whenever we travel (especially abroad), we always love finding free city tours as a means to get our bearings in a new location and to also learn more about the city/country's history.
While Pittsburgh does have periodic, free city tours run by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, they are often limited in frequency and location. We, as a city, simply needed more.
It wasn't until late 2018 that Pittsburgh finally got its own free walking tour, put on by the appropriately named Free Pittsburgh Walking Tours. Naturally, I jumped on this one in early 2019 to give it a try and really enjoyed the tour overall!
One of the things we love about the boroughs in southwest Pennsylvania is that many of them have a historical society and museum dedicated to sharing the history of the area.
Some of these, like the Saxonburg Museum, are huge. Others, like the Harmony Museums, are spread out over multiple historical buildings that are all worth exploring.
In Donora, the museum managed by the Donora Historical Society is fairly small. But what it lacks in size it makes up for in sharing the borough's history and the Donora Smog environmental disaster.
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art is located just a few blocks away from the business district of downtown Greensburg, PA.
This free museum houses a rather impressive collection that you really should check out on your next visit to the city!